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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23811121">Forces of Nature</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeybladeCryptography/pseuds/KeybladeCryptography'>KeybladeCryptography</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dream Eaters (Kingdom Hearts) - Freeform, F/M, Kingdom Hearts III - Re Mind DLC Spoilers, Multi, Post-Kingdom Hearts III</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 01:48:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>750</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23811121</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeybladeCryptography/pseuds/KeybladeCryptography</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff"><p>Hi! I did not mean to write this at all! I feel like that's an important note. Sometimes these things just happen. Anyway, if the next game (well, after Dark Road) doesn't let Kairi do violence I WILL riot. Oh, I have a <a href="https://twitter.com/CrepusculeChaos">Twitter</a> if you want to find me on there. I think that's all I have to say. Thanks for reading!</p></div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kairi/Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi/Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Forces of Nature</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It is not unexpected when Sora disappears. Not to Riku and Kairi.</p><p>Of course, it’s still sad. Everyone gathers on the dock after the sun sets and tears are shed for days or weeks or months on end. When only Riku and Kairi remain, they’re careful to keep their gazes fixed down because looking up at the brilliant blue sky reminds them of him. They find themselves huddled together on the beach, fingers interlocked so that Kairi doesn’t overflow or worse, recede and so Riku doesn’t crumble away. They still watch the sunset, but only the bleeding reflection on the water. It’s different without him.</p><p>But they knew this would happen. Sora’s always been bigger than his body, bigger than these islands and bigger than life. Bigger than death. He can’t and won’t remain still. Riku knew this. Kairi knew this. That’s why they let him go.</p><p>(He spent all that time searching for and saving them, searching for and saving everyone, only to be lost himself.)</p><p>Sora is more precious than anybody, more precious than these islands, than any and all the worlds and the sky stretching between them and that is why he must be found. It has to be him.</p><p>Riku and Kairi leave again. That’s all they’ve done these past few years. Kairi bathes in the harsh white light of the laboratory and Riku walks away from her to scour the worlds but he always returns to hold her hand and let the lull of her breathing wash over him. He’s fallen asleep slumped against her chair and awoken with an aching neck enough times that DiZ . . . er, Ansem the Wise . . . found a cot for him.</p><p>Every time he sleeps, he dreams, and it’s more vivid beside her. He thinks he can catch a glimpse of the figure watching him. Watching them. A shadowed amalgamation, his hair a little darker than Riku’s own, one eye a few shades bloodier than Kairi’s ruby hair and the other sapphire like Sora’s but with no light in it. Riku knows he’s dangerous, but the dreams feel safer when he’s with her. He is less alone. He wonders if she has the dreams too.</p><p>Probably.</p><p>He feels a stab of guilt every time he wakes up and leaves her to face that dark world alone but he knows her light burns strong. Maybe even strong enough to guide Sora back home again.</p><p>It’s two in the morning and Riku’s dead tired after analyzing the Organization’s data. He sways as he walks towards the castle. Aeleus has taken the night shift and he looks concerned but he says nothing as Riku clutches the doorframe for support before retracing the familiar path to the lab, fumbling with the keycard they gave him though he’s never been much of a scientist. Miraculously, he stumbles over to Kairi without knocking over any documents or breaking any beakers and he rests his head on a lumpy pillow to watch her.</p><p>She looks a little paler than usual but that might just be his vision quickly giving away to the desire to sleep. Her hand’s a little colder. Riku shivers. The air conditioning is too strong but the control panel is too complicated for him to change it. He’s not even sure if he should. Maybe they’re trying to preserve samples or something. He pulls his blanket a little higher up and wraps it around himself a little tighter before changing his mind and giving it to Kairi. </p><p>He falls asleep and doesn’t wake up that morning.</p><p>The dreams are the same as they always are. Dark city. Bright lights reflected in the windows of skyscrapers. Someone watching. Silver. Red. Blue. He presses his hand to the wet asphalt, gets up, and starts walking. </p><p>Footfalls approach and he thinks the pattern should be familiar but he can’t recognize it. The shadowed amalgamation steps into the light of a street lamp.</p><p>Kairi’s ears twitch as she takes Riku’s hand. He beats his wings and wonders if he has any idea how to use them. (He does.)</p><p>The watcher flicks his wrist and Riku descends upon him with all the power of an earthquake. Kairi ensnares him with the fluid force of a hurricane. They’ll destroy this city and its sky if they have to, to reclaim their own. Sora is more precious and he must be found.</p><p>From atop a palace of steel and glass, they look up and watch as the night sky bursts into dawn.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi! I did not mean to write this at all! I feel like that's an important note. Sometimes these things just happen. Anyway, if the next game (well, after Dark Road) doesn't let Kairi do violence I WILL riot. Oh, I have a <a href="https://twitter.com/CrepusculeChaos">Twitter</a> if you want to find me on there. I think that's all I have to say. Thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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